The DC and Santa Clara offices of the Council for Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) were evacuated after mail containing a suspicious powdery substance was sent to them.
A suspicious letter containing a white powdery substance prompted evacuations at the Council on American-Islamic Relations Bay Area office in Santa Clara on Thursday.
CAIR's regional executive director Zahra Billoo said the office received a letter around 12:30 p.m. which contained a suspicious substance. The sender put his name down as "Infidel."
The office is located at 3000 Scott Blvd. The building was evacuated and about 12 employees who were inside were quarantined by Santa Clara police and fire department officials. NBC Bay Area chopper video showed people in yellow hazmat suits being hosed off.
Three people were taken to the hospital as a precaution, authorities said.
CNN reports on the evacuation of the DC office:
The office of the largest U.S. Muslim civil liberties group in Washington was temporarily evacuated on Thursday afternoon after it received mail containing a suspicious substance.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said police evacuated its Capitol Hill office after a "foreign substance" was received in the mail.
Later Thursday afternoon, employees were given the all-clear to return.
The substance was a white powder that spilled out of a letter when opened by an employee, and several people inside and outside the office were being quarantined, spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. The letter was described as hate mail.
A spokesman for D.C. Fire said Thursday the site had been cleared and that an initial field test on the substance came back negative, but added there will be further testing.
The NBC Bay Area report is below:
